Granada’s hard line came from lawyers and the Inquisition, not the Crown

Evidence

The situation might be summarized broadly as follows: in the first half of the century the spokesmen of the Granadans (many of whom were members of the former Islamic aristocracy of the Nasrid kingdom), argued tactfully, even boldly at times, that their people should in general be left undisturbed so long as their local ways did not run blatantly counter to explicit Christian doctrine and the interests of the Spanish state. In opposition to this policy of minimal interference, two (partially overlapping) groups emerged in the Christian ruling classes as proponents of a hard line. These were, firstly, the new bureaucratic class of lawyers brought to Granada when new Christian administrative structures were set up there and especially after the transfer there of the Chanciller´ıa from Ciudad Real in 1505 (this tribunal had wide responsibilities for legal matters not only in Granada, but over all the southern half of the realm). The second group of proponents of a hard line was the Inquisition, especially after the Inquisition of Ja´en was transferred to Granada in 1526, thus locating both supervisory administrations in the same city. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 974

Categorization

• XREF: Institutional-bureaucracy analysis echoes the Diamond District chapter’s theme that institutions have their own agendas and sectional interests can diverge from the central power’s.